Buzz
Since its debut in 2011, the infamous party game Cards Against Humanity has transformed offensive humor into a thriving business. The game revolves around a deck of cards filled with edgy remarks, with players tasked to fill in blanks to create scenarios ranging from crude to shockingly inappropriate. The rules are simple—players can continue as long as they wish—but the game has become a massive success. Discover some interesting tidbits about Cards Against Humanity’s backstory, including its Black Friday stunts featuring poop, and the time the creators debated whether to destroy a Picasso.
1. Cards Against Humanity was initially created using construction paper.
In 2009, Max Temkin, Josh Dillon, Daniel Dranove, Eli Halpern, Ben Hantoot, David Munk, David Pinsof, and Eliot Weinstein—a group of friends, many of whom had gone to high school together—gathered during their winter break and decided to create a game for their New Year’s Eve parties. They brainstormed several ideas, but only one—named Cardenfreude after schadenfreude, the German term for taking pleasure in others' misfortune—stood out.
After returning to their respective colleges, they continued developing the game, using construction paper to print out the questions and answers. Eventually, Temkin and his team made the game available for free under a Creative Commons license. With the help of early buzz, a successful 2011 Kickstarter campaign allowed them to produce a commercial version of the game, which, despite being free to download and print, quickly became a smash hit. In just its first two years, Cards Against Humanity sold almost 500,000
2. Cards Against Humanity was so beloved, consumers were willing to pay three times its retail price.
Right from the start, Temkin and his friends were determined to keep their venture independent, without the help of outside investors. They arranged for their own game manufacturer, Ad Magic, a New Jersey company known for producing playing cards. The manufacturing was outsourced to China, but as sales took off, production couldn’t keep pace. Consequently, copies of Cards Against Humanity were being resold at up to three times the original $25 price until supply was able to catch up.
3. The team managed to successfully sell bull poop to their customers.
During a 2014 Black Friday promotion, the Cards Against Humanity team offered customers the opportunity to purchase a box of 'bullsh*t.' The company sold and shipped real bull dung, sourced from a ranch in Texas. All 30,000 boxes, each priced at $6, sold out in under 30 minutes when they went on sale.
Temkin explained that the bull dung was meant to satirize the sensationalism surrounding Black Friday shopping. The company has made it a tradition to create eye-catching campaigns every holiday season. In 2015, they ran a 'promotion' where people could send them $5 and receive nothing in return. (They raised $71,145 and distributed it among their employees.) In 2016, they dug a pointless 'holiday hole' in an undisclosed location, funded by customer donations. In 2018, they offered a 99-percent-off sale featuring outlandish items like a cheese wheel and an actual car for just $97.50. All items were supposedly real and delivered to buyers.
4. The company isn't particularly amused by imitators.
Though Cards Against Humanity is often compared to Apples to Apples, a wordplay game from 1999, the company takes a strong stance against imitation products. While fans can create expansion packs based on the game, they are discouraged from profiting from their creations. The company will frequently involve its legal team to halt unauthorized games. Decks like Cards Against Originality and Cards and Punishment, which closely resemble the black-and-white color scheme and Helvetica font of the original game, often result in legal action. The company’s concern is that fans may mistake third-party projects for official expansions.
5. Cards Against Humanity may be the only game with its own writer’s room.
To keep expansion packs fresh and edgy, Temkin and his co-creators recruited local Chicago comedians to form a writer’s room at the company’s headquarters starting in 2016. This led to the game becoming even raunchier and more bizarre. The writers also serve as a type of focus group, ensuring that the cards are offensive—but not overly so. This system isn't foolproof, though. In 2017, Target removed an expansion pack from shelves after it was criticized for being antisemitic.
6. The team considered destroying a priceless Picasso.
In December 2015, the team behind Cards Against Humanity acquired Tête de Faune, a genuine Picasso painting. Although the exact method of acquisition remains unclear, it was likely sourced from a Chicago-area art dealer. The team then held an online poll to determine whether to donate it to the Art Institute of Chicago or to slice it into 150,000 pieces and distribute it to the public. Of the 50,000 voters, 71.3 percent chose to preserve the artwork in its original form.
7. The company launched a pop-up shop.
In 2017, the creators of Cards Against Humanity opened a pop-up shop in collaboration with the Chicago Design Museum. Situated in Block 37’s Chicago Design Market, the temporary store sold various games, Cards Against Humanity merchandise, and works from local artists. Though the shop was short-lived, the company continues to sell its products through retail chains like Target and Walmart.
